Linking Language: Characterizing Developmental Traits in Preschoolers with ASD

Background:   Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by marked impairment in communication. It is estimated that as much as 30% of children with ASD remain minimally verbal, even after receiving intervention. 

Objectives:  The goal of this study is to examine developmental characteristics of verbal and minimally verbal children with ASD between the ages of 2 and 5. 

Methods:  Eighty- five children between 24 and 63 months old (M= 46 mos.) diagnosed with ASD were included in this study. All participants completed a battery of experimental and developmental assessments such as the Mullen Scales of Early Learning to measure cognitive functioning, the Early Social Communication Scale which measures social communication and the Structured Play Assessment which is coded for spontaneous play acts. Participants were identified as minimally verbal based on their language produced during the ADOS (less than 5 words spoken). The groups were compared to examine developmental characteristics associated with expressive language group designation.

 

Results:  Of the 85 children included in the sample 33 (39%) were identified as minimally verbal. Results indicate that the minimally verbal group is significantly lower in their overall DQ (p<.001), initiations of requests (p= .001), chronological age (p= .001), symbolic play types (p= .006) and frequency of symbolic play acts (p= .012). Surprisingly, initiations of joint attention gestures (IJA), excluding joint attention language, in the verbal group (M = 5.88) and minimally verbal group (M = 4.57) did not differ significantly. 

Conclusions:  These findings highlight several important factors in studying young, minimally verbal children with ASD.  As expected, minimally verbal children with ASD scored lower on cognitive measures and were younger in age. Because younger children would be expected to be minimally verbal, these children should likely be considered preverbal.  Longitudinal follow up data are critical to determine if younger preverbal children acquire spoken language or if there are particular characteristics that place them at high risk for remaining minimally verbal.  Finally, contrary to expectations, minimally verbal children with ASD exhibited comparable levels of IJA gestures compared with their verbal counterparts. Considering the important role of social communication skills, such as IJA, in language acquisition, these data require further investigation.